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( 67 ) on SOME REPTILIAN REMAINS from the DINOSAUR BEDS of NYASALAND. by S. H. HAUGHTON, D.Sc., F.G.S. (Published by Permission

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( 67 ) on SOME REPTILIAN REMAINS from the DINOSAUR BEDS of NYASALAND. by S. H. HAUGHTON, D.Sc., F.G.S. (Published by Permission ( 67 ) ON SOME REPTILIAN REMAINS FROM THE DINOSAUR BEDS OF NYASALAND. By S. H. HAUGHTON, D.Sc., F.G.S. (Published by permission of the Hon. the Minister for Mines and Industries.) (With Plates II-V and two Text-figures.) As a result of his field work in the Mwakasyunguti area of Nyasaland, Dr. F. Dixey sent for identification and description a large consignment of bones of Sauropodous Dinosaurs. Examination of these bones has proved disappointing. Nearly all of them are weathered and fragmentary, and in very few instances was it possible to fit pieces together in order to make fairly complete bones. There are numerous vertebral centra, mostly from the tail region, several parts of humeri, of femora, and of tibiae, and frag­ ments of ilia. The fragments indicate the presence of several animals of Downloaded At: 11:05 20 January 2011 differing size; but, except in one instance, where several bones were found in association, there is no evidence from the field as to the relationships of the various finds. Except in the one case mentioned, it seems unsafe, therefore, to attempt specific identification, especially in view of the mass of material from the neighbouring Tendaguru area which yet awaits publi­ cation, and with which it is probable the Nyasaland forms can most closely be compared. The procedure has therefore been adopted of figuring some of the bones, without naming them, in the hope that interest may be aroused in the discovery, and arrangements made for further and more extensive systematic search. Dr. Dixey's collection contains nothing so gigantic as the bones of Brachiosaurus, but they are full of interest as being evidence of the pres­ ence, in the beds which yielded them, of a land fauna comparable with that occurring at, or near, the Jura-Cretaceous boundary in the former German East Africa and in Madagascar. The incomplete Chelonian cara­ pace and plastron described in this paper is the first Chelonian from beds of this age in Africa. 68 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. DESDRlPTIO~ OF FORMS. TESTUDINATA. Platycheloides nyasae, gen. et sp. n. One of the most interesting specimens collected by Dr. Dixey is the weathered carapace and plastron of a small Chelonian, preserved in a coarse brick-red sandstone which came from the Sauropod-bearing beds of Mwakasyunguti. The chief features of the specimen can be discerned from the figures. The plastron is almost smooth. The bridge is short. The entoplastron is elongate-rhomboidal in shape. The mesoplastra are small and placed laterally. The marginal bones bear the same relation to the plastron as in Pelomedusa. The hinder end of the humeral scute lies well behind the posterior corner of the entoplastron, as in Pelomedusa, but the plastron differs from that of P. galeata in not possessing a median fontanelle. The hypoplastron meets the seventh marginal bone in a suture. The inguinal buttress is fairly strong. The chief measurements are- Length as preserved . 125 mm, Probable greatest length about 175 " Greatest breadth 160 " Length of humerals in the middle line. 35 pectorals 25 abdominals " 19 Downloaded At: 11:05 20 January 2011 femorals 27 bridge 61 entoplastron 39 hyoplastron in the middle line (41) 39 hypo plastron (38) 40 mesoplastron 28 Breadth of entoplastron 23 Greatest breadth of right hyoplastron 69 " mesoplastron 27 hypoplastron 64 It is somewhat difficult to estimate the exact systematic position of this form. The presence of mesoplastra places it definitely either in the super­ family Amphichelydia or in the Pleurodira. In the former mesoplastra are always present; in the latter they may be present or absent. The Amphichelydia were represented in Upper Jurassic times; in Europe by Pleurosternon and Platychelys, in North America by Glyptops On some Reptilian Remains from the Dinosaur Beds of N yasaland. 69 FIG. I.-Carapace of type of Platyckeloidea nyasae, gen. et sp. n. Downloaded At: 11:05 20 January 2011 \ \ \ \ \ , \ \ , \ , , , -, FIG. 2.-Plastron of type of Platyckeloides nyaaae, gen. et sp. n. 70 Transactions oj the Royal Society oj South Africa. and Probaena. The Pleurosternidae, to which Pleurosternon and Glyptops belong, have the inguinal buttresses feebly developed, and the mesoplastra meeting broadly in the mid-line and separating the hyoplastra from the hypoplastra. In Probaena sculpta, regarded by Hay as an ancestral Baenid, there is a considerable fontanelle between the inner ends of the mesoplastra. Platychelys (from the Upper Jurassic of Europe) agrees with our form in that the mesoplastra do not meet in the mid-line, but it has a highly sculptured carapace. It must be noted that the relations of the mesoplastra are not considered by Hay as of generic importance; his figure of the type of Baena riparia shows that species to differ from the other members of the genus in having mesoplastra which do not meet one another. The Pleurodiran genus Podocnemis agrees with our form in the possession of small lateral mesop\astra, but it differs in that the humero-pectoral sulcus cuts the entoplastron in the Tertiary genus. The earliest pleuro­ dires described occur in the Upper Cretaceous of North America and were placed by Baur in the family Bothremydidae. These also possess small mesoplastra as in the Pelomedusidae. Hay points out that these probably descended from some primitive Pleurodiran ancestor close to the Amphi­ chelydia; and the discovery of this form Platycheloides in Nyasaland, con­ taining as it does features common to both the Amphichelydia and the Pleurodira, is one of great interest. There are in the collection two other fragments of plastra, one indicating an animal larger than the one here described, but both are too fragmentary for effective description. Downloaded At: 11:05 20 January 2011 SAUROPODA. Gigantosaurus dixeyi, sp. n. According to Dr. Dixey, certain bones were found in contact with one another, or were within two or three feet laterally of one another. These bones proved to be a right pubis, an anterior caudal vertebra, half of a cervical vertebra, an incomplete scapula, and two plate-like bones which can only be interpreted as sternal plates. With the exception of the cervical vertebra, it is probable that these bones are part of a single skeleton, and they will be described as such. They are numbered 7405 in the South African Museum Collection. Caudal Vertebra.-Comparison with the series of tail-vertebrae of Camara­ saurus figured by Osborn and Mook (1921) shows that this specimen comes from the anterior part of the tail, and probably from the region occupied by the 7th to 10th caudals, The centrum is procoelous, much more On some Reptilian Remains from the Dinosaur Beds of N yasaland. 71 markedly so than in Camarasaurus. The lower surface is somewhat flattened. The chief measurements are- Total height of vertebra 244 mm. Spread of caudal ribs (estimated) 202 Total length of centrum 95 Anterior width of centrum. 124 " " height of 116 Posterior width of 108 " " height of 112 Compared with Camarasaurus the centrum is thus much more robust III this Nyasaland form. The spine is of moderate height, broadened at the summit, where it is rugose, and sloping slightly backward. Its antero-posterior diameter is relatively greater than in Camarasaurus. Its anterior face has a strong median ridge, and two lateral ridges which arise at the prezygapophyses and die out superiorly. The posterior face is a deep vertical broad groove flanked by postzygapophysiallaminae. The postzygapophyses face largely outward and slightly downward. The transverse processes have strong bases, are fairly short, and curve outwards and backwards. Compared with the anterior caudal of Barosaurus robustus (Fraas, 1908) this vertebra shows some points of similarity. The convexity of the posterior face of the centrum is about the same in the two forms, but the Downloaded At: 11:05 20 January 2011 dorsal spine is broader and heavier-according to information given me in litt. by Professor Janensch; and the centrum is much longer in relation to its width than in the Tendaguru form. Moreover, the Nyasaland hone is considerably smaller. There are also certain resemblances to the bone figured by Thevenin as the 2nd caudal of Bothriospondylus madagascariensis. Scapula.-There are two portions of a right scapula, forming a fairly complete bone with the exception of a short length of the shaft and the anterior process of the proximal end. The measurements are- Greatest length prob. 660 mm. Length of glenoid surface 135 " Maximum thickness of shaft 43 " Minimum width of shaft about 120 " Width of proximal end as preserved 220 " The bone is relatively longer and more slender than that of Camara­ saurus. The posterior side of the shaft is thicker than the anterior, the 72 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. posterior outer side having a prominent longitudinal swelling in the lower half. The inner surface of the blade is flat dorsally, and concave in its lower half. The posterior border differs from that of most of the other described Sauropods in the possession of a prominent short supraglenoid spine which lies on the inner side. This spine is indicated in the figure of the scapula of Brachiosaurus jraasi described by Janensch. The hinder border of the shaft is less straight than in Brachiosaurus. As far as comparison is possible, the bone differs from that figured by Fraas as a scapula of Giganf,osaurus sp. in being more slender. Sternal Plates.-A number of plate-like fragments have proved to belong to the sternal plates, and have been fitted together to form a pair of nearly complete bones. The plates approximate more closely in shape to the elongate form displayed by Triceratops and Monoclonius than to the more rounded plates of Brontosaurus.
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